A couple weeks ago, I finally decided it was time to see what Netflix was all about. At first I was overwhelmed by the number of options I had to choose from, so I’ll be honest, I panicked. The first show I started watching was Keeping Up with the Kardashians because I really wanted to see how bad they used to dress in the first season. After about an hour of Kim’s velour jumpsuits and Khloe’s DUI re-enactment, I realized that I made a terrible decision. It was time to find a television show or movie that would turn this so far failed Netflix experience around. Then all of a sudden, a show scrolled in front of me and it was like I knew it was The One…

Meet: Orange is the New Black–my newest small-screen love affair.

I’m not typically the type to get hooked on a television series but when I do, I fall hard. After watching episode one of this Netflix Original Series, I absolutely needed to find out what was going to happen next in the newly incarcerated life of main character Piper Chapman. Her story is based on the real-life experience turned biography Orange is the New Black: My Life in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman. In the show, Chapman (Taylor Schilling) is forced to leave her upper-middle class New York City life with fiance Larry Bloom (Jason Biggs) to start a 15-month sentence for a crime she committed–and thought she left in her past– 10 years earlier.

As the show pans out, viewers learn that a tumultuous lesbian relationship that Chapman started with Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) shortly after college is the reason why her current cushy (and no longer lesbian) life was turned upside down. Vause was a part of an International Drug Cartel and, although Chapman played a miniscule role in the drug ring, her part was enough to score her a brief stay at the Litchfield Penitentiary. Chapman and fiance Bloom decide to stay together while she’s locked up, but throughout the 13 episodes of Season One, you’ll experience the ups and downs of her mistake and how it affects this and other relationships in her life.

Chapman and her incarcerated peers

Other added bonuses to OITNB are the subplots between the prison staff, her friends from home, and the other inmates she encounters–including her ex-girlfriend Alex Vause. Although there is enough humor in the show to balance out the fact that her experience is far from comedic, you will also feel a poignancy that you would never expect from a show about criminals. There is some nudity (the show carries an TV-MA rating), but the most you will see are breasts and a little toosh. I will warn you–there are some lesbian “love” scenes, but they have such a minor effect on the show that it shouldn’t bother you much. (Don’t worry–there aren’t any va-jay shots.)

OITNB is a MUST see. I finished the series in about three days and I cannot wait for Season Two to premiere. I haven’t seen a concrete date set for the debut but various sources confirm it will happen. The finale was absolutely INSANE and I have no idea what’s in store for my girl Piper Chapman.

Have you watched OITNB? What are your thoughts? Sound off here or at @20sTweet!